(a public image made available through wikimedia commons. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Natlpark.jpg )

Since I was a little kid, I've been a big fan of the US Postal Service. I feel a kind of happiness when I enter post offices. A most casual and unorganized collector of stamps, I first started saving them off envelopes when I was twenty-one.

The following text of this post consists entirely of quotes from the Wikipedia article 'United States Postal Service'.


'The first postal service in America arose in February 1692, when a grant from King William and Queen Mary empowered Thomas Neale "to erect, settle and establish within the chief parts of their majesties' colonies and plantations in America, an office or offices for the receiving and dispatching letters and pacquets, and to receive, send and deliver the same under such rates and sums of money as the planters shall agree to give, and to hold and enjoy the same for the term of twenty-one years."'


Subsequently: 'The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office and U.S. Mail, [became] an independent agency of the United States government responsible for providing postal service in the United States. It is one of the few government agencies explicitly authorized by the United States Constitution. The USPS traces its roots to 1775 during the Second Continental Congress, where Benjamin Franklin was appointed the first postmaster general. The cabinet-level Post Office Department was created in 1792 from Franklin's operation and transformed into its current form in 1971 under the Postal Reorganization Act.'


'The USPS has not directly received taxpayer-dollars since the early 1980s with the minor exception of subsidies for costs associated with the disabled and overseas voters.'


'The USPS employs over 574,000 workers and operates over 260,000 vehicles. The USPS is the operator of the largest vehicle fleet in the world. The USPS is legally obligated to serve all Americans, regardless of geography, at uniform price and quality.'





'The first stamp issues [Ben Franklin and George Washington above] were authorized by an act of Congress and approved on March 3, 1847. The earliest known use of the Franklin 5c is July 7, 1847, while the earliest known use of the Washington 10c is July 2, 1847. Remaining in postal circulation for only a few years, these issues were declared invalid for postage on July 1, 1851.'

(a public image made available through wikimedia commons. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:First_US_Stamps_1847_Issue.jpg )